CYIL vol. 7 (2016)

CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ

ISLAMIC STATE, AN ACTOR THREATENING PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

to Chapter VII of the Resolution 2170 of 2014, strongly condemns the terrorist acts

of ISIL and their violent extremist ideology and the continued, large scale, systematic,

and

extended abuse of human rights

and

breaches of international humanitarian law

. As

international humanitarian law is concerned, violent acts and the threat of their use

where their aim is to terrorize civilian populations are forbidden.

Concerning the

question of whether these groups are international terrorist organizations, Bílková

says that “International humanitarian law contains a rather autonomous regulation

of terrorism/terror. This regulation is applied exclusively during armed conflicts and

in some respects differs from the regulation valid during the time of peace.

Ius in bello

forbids terrorist measures, acts of terror even as separate acts – taking of hostages. That

means that even during the armed conflict violent threatening of civilian population

can represent a war crime, and the terrorist can be punished. Both a terrorist group

and a state can commit the act of terrorism/terror.”

The Islamic state has

breached

international humanitarian law

in many cases. Among these belong the executions

of hostages and other cases of killing committed by the Islamic state. The Islamic

state militants are said to have shot 300 people who worked for the Iraqi Electorial

Commission of Iraq in Mosul in August 2015.

Another serious breach of the rules

of humanitarian law is also the use of forbidden weapons, among which belong

chemical weapons. Some sources claim that the militants of the Islamic state used

a chemical substance called sulfur mustard (yperite) near Kirkuk, the metropolis of

Iraqi Kurdistan in August 2015. The use of this chemical substance was confirmed

by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Another

issue is the

position of individuals – terrorists

, as the combatants of the Islamic state are

viewed as terrorists who operate on the territory of Iraq and Syria. And whether they

should be considered as combatants who are protected by the rules of international

humanitarian law or not. From the point of view of the four features of irregular

armed forces as defined by the Geneva Convention of 1949, we could state that the

fighters of the Islamic state are marked, they have officers and openly carry their arms;

however they do not fight in accordance with the rules of international humanitarian

law –

on the contrary, they grossly violate these rules. They have the character of

illegal combatants,

because they do not act

according to the rules of the law of war

However, they cannot be considered civilians, because they are actively involved in

the fight against individual states. Vogel

describes terrorists as

illegal combatants

Art. 13. para. 2, of the Additional Protocol II (1977) and Art. 51, para. 2, of the Additional Protocol I

to the Geneva Conventions (1949).

BÍLKOVÁ, Veronika.

Boj proti terorismu z pohledu ochrany lidských práv.

Plzeň: Vyd. a nakl. A. Čeněk,

2014, p. 66.

Islámský stát údajně zavraždil 300 členů irácké volební komise.

Právo

11. 8. 2015.

Islamisté v iráckém Irbílu podle všeho použili yperit.

Právo

16. 2. 2016.

VOGEL, R. J. Drone Warfare and the Law of Armed Conflict.

39 Den. J. INT’L. and POL’Y 101

, 104

(2010-11), p. 119.